Chapter 146: The Stone Statue Offers Treasure

Chaos-Slashing Blade was healing in the darkness.

Fang Junmei walked side by side with Lightning, stepping forward one pace after another towards the exit, his Indifferent Sword in hand as his aura steadily rose.

Luan Shi Daolang had already described the scene beyond the doors to him. While Luan Shi Daolang was busy healing and recovering, Fang Junmei had nothing better to do, so he decided to go and explore for himself.

The main gate looked as though it had been drenched in oil, radiating a dripping, golden-yellow luster. In truth, however, it had long since been reduced to mere fragments of rotten wood amidst the previous battles.

Upon reaching the threshold, the scene outside immediately came into view. It was a courtyard-like space, inside which also stood stone-statue puppets, likewise thoroughly destroyed. Along the wall on the farthest side stood three grand gates, each about ten zhang high and seven or eight zhang wide, as if leading in three different directions. They were all wide open, with faint light emanating from behind them.

Above was a stone ceiling, and beneath their feet was a floor paved with the same material.

Slash—

The Indifferent Sword was drawn and thrust directly upward first. The sound of metal clashing rang out, yet it failed to pierce through, leaving not even a single scratch.

He thrust it toward the ground next, with the exact same result.

After a moment of thought, Fang Junmei retrieved his Earth-Escaping Shuttle and hurled it downward. A shower of intense sparks instantly burst forth, but it still could not penetrate the earth.

"There is no road to heaven and no door into the earth. Aside from moving forward, the only option is to retreat. It seems that teleportation array cannot be destroyed for now; otherwise, if a powerful pursuer chases us in here, we will still need to use it to escape."

Fang Junmei muttered to himself, put away the Earth-Escaping Shuttle, and walked forward, his gaze falling upon the three grand gates.

……

All three of these gates were covered in bizarre, ancient characters!

Yet Fang Junmei could not recognize a single one, nor could Luan Shi Daolang, who had been here previously.

"Lightning, do you recognize these characters?" Fang Junmei asked.

"I do not," Lightning replied honestly.

Fang Junmei asked again, "What about spiritual sensing?"

Lightning replied, "Within a radius of three hundred zhang, aside from the three of us, there are no auras of living flesh and blood. However, it cannot be ruled out that some strange existence might have concealed its aura to evade my perception."

When Lightning grew serious, his thoughts were indeed quite thorough.

Fang Junmei carefully studied the three gates for quite a while, unable to glean any clues. In the end, he chose one to walk toward—the middle gate.

Luan Shi Daolang had chosen that middle gate as well, and it was precisely upon entering there that he had been ambushed.

……

Crossing the courtyard, walking up to the gate, and proceeding step by step at a leisurely pace, with no spiritual awareness and relying entirely on the naked eye, Fang Junmei actually found himself feeling unaccustomed to it.

The Three-Breath Divine Stone had already been silently activated.

Swish—

With a sharp whistle, fierce arrows shot forth from the darkness ahead. They were distinctly different from ordinary arrows; these were phantom arrows of fire, not forged from physical metal, seemingly imbued with formidable fiery power. Moreover, the speed at which these arrows flew was hair-raising! They were hardly seen before they were already four or five zhang away.

Fang Junmei had activated his Three-Breath Divine Stone long ago, clearly capturing the trajectory of the incoming fire arrows. With a single sword thrust, a beam of sword qi shot out from the tip of his blade.

Bang!

With a loud crash, the two forces shattered against each other.

Continuing forward, the whistling sound of arrows began to ring out one after another.

Fang Junmei's wrist flicked repeatedly, with pinpoint accuracy, knocking down the fire arrows one by one at lightning speed, leaving none behind.

Beside him, the white horse Lightning had long since witnessed his god-like speed and predictive perception, showing not the slightest trace of surprise.

Soon, they passed through a moderately long passage behind the gate, and another grand hall appeared before them. It was likewise guarded by stone-statue puppets. The ones in the very front had already been destroyed by a dozen or so, but there were still around thirty remaining in the rear. Perhaps because all of them had sensed Fang Junmei and Lightning, they all drew their longbows and fired continuously, arrows raining down upon them.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Wave after wave, seemingly endless, defying comprehension as to how they were ever forged.

"Lightning, I'll provide cover. You go and take them down. Be quick—there are too many arrows. If there's any danger, retreat immediately."

Fang Junmei's hands were already moving so fast they seemed to blur into wings.

Lightning nodded in agreement.

"One, two, three, go!"

Fang Junmei darted off in one direction, drawing the fire of all the arrows, while Lightning surged forward toward another direction like a bolt of lightning.

Bang!

A stone-statue statue puppet was kicked to pieces by Lightning, exploding into powder!

After blasting that puppet apart, seeing arrows begin to target him, Lightning hurriedly retreated along his original path. Fang Junmei also fell back at the same time. True to form, the puppet did not pursue. Entering once more, Fang Junmei once again drew the firepower of the stone puppets single-handedly, seeking opportunities to strike.

These stone-statue puppets possessed extremely fierce attacks, but lacking intelligence, their targets and methods were entirely predetermined.

Although Fang Junmei had the assistance of the Three-Breath Divine Stone, he still had to escape back out of the door from time to time to catch his breath. Several perilous moments caused even Lightning to break out in a cold sweat for him.

Man and horse cooperated remarkably well. After spending the time it took to brew two cups of tea, they finally slaughtered all thirty-odd stone-statue puppets down to the last one.

Hearing the commotion on this side and feeling somewhat worried, Luan Shi Daolang found it hard to continue healing and followed them over.

When the man, the youth, and the horse re-entered the hall, not a single intact stone-statue puppet remained, leaving only a floor strewn with rubble.

Luan Shi Daolang stared in utter shock. He had to remember that earlier, he had exhausted every trick and magical treasure he possessed just to destroy a single statue, and even ended up injured in the process.

This truly made one compare people and feel like dying of frustration. Did the gap really have to be this vast?

"Junmei, if I can really obtain any good items this time, it's entirely thanks to you. In the future, I will definitely repay this great favor."

Luan Shi Daolang was not a shameless person and saw the situation clearly.

"It's all thanks to Lightning's merit," Fang Junmei said modestly. In truth, it was likely true; without Lightning, Fang Junmei would never have had such an easy time, and his achievements might not have surpassed Luan Shi Daolang's by much.

Hearing this, Lightning let out a triumphant, haughty neigh.

"In the future, I must find a partner as formidable as this myself!" Luan Shi Daolang sighed with eyes full of envy, his gaze nearly glowing as he looked at Lightning.

Lightning cast a disdainful glance his way. Could he possibly find a second spirit beast as formidable as a grand master like himself?

……

Fang Junmei paid no more attention to the man and the horse, turning his gaze to sweep across the hall. He soon discovered two piles of shattered skeletons. Having weathered countless years, they had turned pitch black, and most of them had been ground into fine dust during the recent battle.

However, the storage bags of those two cultivators still lay on the ground, merely coated with a layer of dust.

Fang Junmei reached out with a hand, drew them over, and after a casual glance, tossed one expressionlessly to Luan Shi Daolang.

For those two cultivators to have forced their way here meant they were certainly no ordinary figures. The items in their storage bags were neither few nor poor, but just as Lightning had said, they hadn't found an invaluable supreme treasure—what was there to be so joyous about?

Having thrown the storage bag, he suddenly recalled a prior matter.

He fished out another storage bag and flicked it over to Luan Shi Daolang, saying, "This is the harvest from the battle before we separated. This portion belongs to you and your sister. It contains four Longevity-Extending Fruits; I took one extra."

Luan Shi Daolang caught it, without even looking, and raised no objections whatsoever.

"Aren't you going to heal your injuries?"

"No need, I'm not in the mood anymore!"

Luan Shi Daolang wore the expression of someone itching to throw himself into a major brawl.

Seeing him like this, Fang Junmei did not try to persuade him further. Taking the lead, he continued forging ahead. After passing through yet another corridor, a resplendent five-colored light suddenly burst into the field of vision of the man and the horse.

Ahead lay another grand hall. Against the wall on one side stood three faceless statues, each five or six zhang tall. Every single faceless statue held its palms upward, striking a posture as if offering treasures!

And in truth, they were indeed offering treasures. Resting in the palm of each statue was an item radiating brilliant light—a saber, a sword, and a seal, all emanating a majestic aura. The strength of that aura surpassed any superior-grade magical treasure Fang Junmei had ever witnessed.

"Junmei, I've never seen magical treasures with such powerful auras—could they all be top-tier magical treasures? Surely our luck can't be this incredible?"

Luan Shi Daolang's eyes nearly popped out of his head. After sweeping his gaze around, he landed on the snowy-white saber, grinning from ear to ear with utter delight.

Fang Junmei was equally dumbstruck, his mind trembling.

Did things really have to be this mind-blowing? He had previously only seen a single incomplete top-tier magical treasure belonging to Feng Jianmei, and now three of them were being presented to him all at once!

Was this exhilarating or what? Was it exhilarating? Just tell him if it was exhilarating!

"The previous two trials were so ferocious, but after passing them, such a magnificent opportunity awaits! This is fantastic! Junmei, I want this saber!"

Luan Shi Daolang darted forward like a streak of light, grasping toward the saber-shaped magical treasure.

"Hold him back!"

Just as Fang Junmei was looking at him with helpless resignation, Lightning's loud shout suddenly echoed within his spiritual consciousness, Lightning's expression dead serious.

Fang Junmei instantly realized something was amiss. Too late to ask questions, he shot forward like a bolt of lightning to intercept Luan Shi Daolang. Realizing he might not reach him in time, he directly unleashed a streak of Indifferent Sword qi.

Swish!

Luan Shi Daolang hurriedly dodged aside.

"Fang Junmei, what are you doing? Are you going to fall out with me so soon?"

Landing on his feet, Luan Shi Daolang glared at Fang Junmei, shouting sternly with a very ugly expression.

"Calm down. Lightning noticed something unusual; don't rush to take the items."

Fang Junmei said softly, paying no mind to the misunderstanding.

Luan Shi Daolang's heart chilled, and together with Fang Junmei, he looked toward Lightning.

At this moment, Lightning was staring with exceptionally sharp eyes at the direction of the jade seal magical treasure closest to them, as if trying to see through something. After a moment, he gently kicked out toward that direction.

The kick struck empty air, but the spatial ripples it stirred up surged toward the jade seal magical treasure. A moment later, strange popping sounds rang out, while the jade seal magical treasure remained completely motionless.

"My guess was right. Although these three magical treasures appear to be right in front of your eyes, they are actually in a separate minor spatial pocket."

Lightning stated.

Having heard this, Fang Junmei was stunned for a moment before relaying it to Luan Shi Daolang.

"How did he figure that out?"

Luan Shi Daolang half-believed it. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he unleashed a palm-wind, sucking toward the saber-shaped magical treasure.

The saber-shaped magical treasure remained completely motionless.

Fang Junmei and Luan Shi Daolang exchanged a glance, and the latter cast an apologetic look his way.

"Lightning, do you have a way to retrieve these magical treasures from that minor space?"

Fang Junmei asked Lightning.